Many serial data links between two end points, such as modem connections, have recently been transported over (e.g., separated by) a heterogeneous Internet Protocol (IP) network for a variety of well understood reasons. For example, utility devices (e.g., meters, sensors, etc.) that have traditionally been interconnected over serial protocols (e.g., IEC-60870-5-101, a.k.a. “IEC-101” or “T-101”) have been transported over an IP network using an IP-ready protocol (e.g., IEC-60870-5-104, a.k.a. “IEC-104” or “T-104”). Generally, this is accomplished by interconnecting the end points with respective routers, which may translate the serial transmissions to IP transmissions, and vice versa, thus emulating to the end points as if they were communicating directly with each other. One problem associated with such communication, however, is that current implementations simply take the serial data and put it on TCP sockets.